The only French manufacturer of infusion bags, the northern Carelide, which employs about 450 employees, is looking for a buyer after going bankrupt, in a context of strong competition, the Lille Commercial Court learned on Friday.
Exposed to a “cash impasse” estimated for January/February at “not far from 10 million euros”, the Mouvaux-based company “preferred to place itself under judicial guardianship with a view to finding a transferee”, said the president of the commercial court of Lille-metropolis, Eric Feldmann, confirming information from the daily Les Echos. Takeover bids must be submitted before November 28.
expressions of interest
The company is notably facing a rise in the price of plastics, “very difficult to report” in its market, “mainly that of hospitals”, because its main competitors, a German group and the American Baxter, “practice very low prices in France”, developed Eric Feldmann. French hospitals only make between “25% and 30% of their purchases” in Carelide. “We are quite optimistic about the brands of interest triggered”, with the company being able to attract “one of the two big competitors, or complementary companies, or important suppliers that would see an interest in pooling their know-how”, estimated Eric Feldman.
In October 2020, in the midst of the health crisis, the Government granted a grant of 5 million euros to Carelide -out of a total investment of 12.5 million euros- to allow it to “increase the production capacity of infusion bags” and ” automate” certain manufacturing processes.
Source: BFM TV
